This week is spring break at the University of Florida so the Sokol family has been spending time in DC with my parents. During this visit, I am reminded that there is one area in which there is no competition - how much a mother can worry about her child (in my case, a 34 year old who is married and has to kids of his own).

My mother worries that:1. I am too thin and therefore I must not be eating enough. Yes, I am 155 lbs and 6'3 and therefore by medical standards under-weight but I have weighed 152 lbs since around 16. This has been a common complaint ever since I went off to college. 2. Even if it is warm outside during the day, I am not dressing warmly enough.3. I do not sleep enough (tough with small children)4. I do not worry enough about these issues

I suspect that mothers around the world share the concerns of my mother regarding their own children.

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Comments

You're correct that mothers around the world share similar concerns. One could assume that the mothers market is highly competitive, which in theory should have led to the optimal level of worry and reduce undesirable side effects ("Danny, wear a sweater"). Unfortunately, that may be the kind of lock-in that concerned the Supreme Court in Kodak. There is severe information asymmetry when you're born, and when you grow up it's too late. You're locked in. Maybe the new Administration will do something about it.

If you were to gain weight, it wouldn't matter. As you know, we're the same height. I was that same weight (at that height) in high school. The concern then was that I was too thin. Now that I'm all the way up to 180, she asks if I'm eating too much.